U.S. will make $50 buffalo golf coins
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, June 17, 2006
WASHINGTON – The golden buffalo, the legendary symbol of the American West, will soon roam again, this time as the nation’s first pure-gold coin.
The U.S. Mint will start taking orders this week for the coins.
The coin will be slightly larger and thicker than a Kennedy half dollar, will contain one ounce of gold and will be designated as a $50 gold piece. The actual price will depend on the market price of an ounce of gold, plus markups.
The design is a replica of the popular buffalo nickel that was minted from 1913 to 1938. The golden buffalo has a buffalo standing on a grassy mound on one side and a stern-looking Indian chief on the other side, duplicating the images created by famed artist James Earle Fraser for the 1913 nickel.
The Mint will sell two versions of the coin:
* A bullion coin, designed for investors. Starting Monday, the Mint will sell the coin only to authorized buyers who will distribute the coins to a network of several thousand local dealers – coin shops, banks and other financial institutions.
The Mint will base its sales price for this coin on the market price of gold and a premium of about 3 percent; other markups in the distribution chain are expected to push the final sales price to about 5 percent to 7.5 percent above the market gold price.
* A proof coin, which is aimed at collectors. This coin has a finer finish and a higher quality strike. The Mint is setting the initial price at $875 per proof coin and will only produce 300,000 of them.
Collectors can buy the proof coins directly from the Mint starting Thursday by going to the Mint’s Web site – www.usmint.gov – or by calling 800-872-6468. The site will also have a listing of local dealers who will sell the coins.
